The Spy Who Never Was The Strange Case of John Honeyman and Revolutionary War Espionage

Alexander Rose

sion so gravely threaten the John Honeyman is famed as Revolution’s survival. the secret agent who saved and the The problem is, John Honey- during the man was no spy—or at least, dismal winter of 1776/77. At a not one of Washington’s. In this time when Washington had suf- essay I will establish that the fered an agonizing succession of key parts of the story were defeats at the hands of the Brit- The problem is, John invented or plagiarized long “ ish, it was Honeyman who after the Revolution and, Honeyman was no brought the beleaguered com- through repetition, have spy.…Key parts of his mander precise details of the become accepted truth. I exam- story were invented…and enemy’s dispositions at ine our knowledge of the tale, through repetition have Trenton, New Jersey. assess the veracity of its compo- become accepted truth. nents, and trace its DNA to the Soon afterwards, acting his single story—a piece of family part as double agent, Honey- history published nearly 100 man informed the gullible Col. years after the battle. 1 These Johann Rall, the Hessian com- historical explorations addition- ” ally will remind modern intelli- mander, that the colonials were in no shape to attack. Washing- gence officers and analysts that ton’s men, he said, were suffer- the undeclared motives of ing dreadfully from the cold and human sources may be as many were unshod. That bit- important as their declared ingly cold Christmas, neverthe- ones—particularly when, as less, Washington enterprisingly readers will see here, a single source is the only witness. crossed the Delaware and smashed the unprepared (and allegedly drunk) Hessians. Origins and Evolution Three days into the new year, he struck again, at Princeton, The Honeyman story has a inflicting a stunning defeat substantial pedigree in pub- upon the redcoats. Though lished histories. First publicly Washington would in the future appearing in 1873 in a New face terrible challenges, never Jersey journal, the tale has again would the Continental since 1898 been a mainstay in Army come so close to dissolu- Revolutionary War histories. In tion and neither would dissen- that year, William Stryker,

All statements of fact, opinion, or analysis expressed in this article are those of the author. Nothing in the article should be construed as asserting or implying US gov- ernment endorsement of an article’s factual statements and interpretations.

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 27 History or Family Fable?

In 1898 William Stryker announced that the Honeyman story was a “well-established tradition.” began shooting up British patrols, and the rest of the country, in the words of a Briton in Virginia, ‘went lib- president of the New Jersey Telegram & Sun, published “A erty mad again.’” 10 The Wikipe- Historical Society, published Spy for Washington” in the pop- dia entry on Honeyman reflects the authoritative Battles of ular history magazine Ameri- this view. Trenton and Princeton, in can Heritage. 6 The piece which he announced that it was brought widespread attention already “a well-established tra- to Honeyman’s exploits and More recently, however, the dition that the most reliable cemented his reputation as Honeyman story has dimin- account of Colonel Rall’s post at Washington’s ace of spies in ished in importance, at least Trenton was given by Washing- Americans’ minds. Two years among general historians. Per- ton’s spy, John Honeyman.”2 later, John Bakeless, a former haps owing to its broad canvas, Soon afterwards, Sir George intelligence officer and author David McCullough’s 1776 omits Otto Trevelyan’s The American of Turncoats, Traitors and him, while Washington’s Cross- Revolution chimed in that the Heroes: Espionage in the Ameri- ing, David Hackett Fischer’s “conversation on a winter night can Revolution, portrayed Hon- exhaustive examination of between Washington and John eyman in the most glowing those remarkable nine days Honeyman settled the fate of terms. 7 between 25 December 1776 and Colonel Rall and the brigade 3 January 1777, hedged on the which he commanded.”3 A gen- In March 1961, as part of question of authenticity. “[The eration later, in the 1920s, NBC’s Sunday Showcase drama story] might possibly be true, Rupert Hughes’s inspirational series, Honeyman’s adventure but in the judgement of this biography George Washington was celebrated before a historian, the legend of Honey- declared that “a splendid monu- national audience. Titled “The man is unsupported by evi- ment glorifies Nathan Hale and Secret Rebel,” the special tanta- dence. No use of it is made his name is a household word in lized viewers with the advertis- here.” 11 America, though he failed in his ing line, “It was tar and short mission; but for John feathers for the ‘traitor’ who Intelligence historians, per- Honeyman, who made the first claimed to know George haps paradoxically, tend to great victory possible, there is Washington!” 8 A decade later, oblivion.” 4 Richard Ketchum’s bestselling give more credence to Honey- history of the Trenton and Prin- man’s achievements. George In 1948, Alfred Bill’s The ceton campaign, The Winter O’Toole’s Honorable Treach- Campaign of Princeton helped Soldiers (1972), again paid lav- ery: A History of U.S. Intelli- rescue Honeyman from that ish tribute to Honeyman.9 gence, Espionage, and Covert awful fate by declaring him Action from the American Rev- “one of the ablest of Washing- As recently as 2000, Thomas olution to the CIA repeats the ton’s spies.”5 Even so, Hale Fleming, a Fellow of the Soci- traditional story. 12 The CIA’s retained his crown, while Hon- ety of American Historians and own useful history, The eyman’s fame remained con- an extraordinarily prolific nar- Founding Fathers of American fined to Revolutionary War rative historian, reasserted Intelligence, notes that Honey- buffs. Honeyman’s essential contribu- man’s intelligence work “came tion to Washington’s Trenton at a critical time for the Amer- That changed in 1957, when victory. Until that battle, “New ican side” and permitted “a Leonard Falkner, a features Jersey had been on the brink of strategic victory in political editor at the New York World- surrender; now local patriots and morale terms.” 13

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Deconstructing Honeyman

The Honeyman story may be partitioned into the five funda- mental components that repeat- edly appear in accounts of his heroics. Linked together in a narrative, they may be defined as the “Ur-version” of Honey- man’s espionage career.

Claim: John Honeyman, of Scottish ancestry, was born in Armagh, Ireland, in 1729 and was a soldier in General James Wolfe’s bodyguard at the battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, where the British victory eventually led to the creation of Canada. He helped bear the fatally wounded Wolfe from the field. Honeyman, however, was never a willing recruit and dis- liked being dragooned as a red- coat. Soon after Wolfe’s death, Private Honeyman was honor- ably discharged and made his way south. He reappears in in 1775. In the interim, he became a weaver, butcher, cattle-dealer, and the husband of Mary Henry. In early 1776, they and their young children move to The Honeyman story was retold in October 1941 in True Comics Number 5 Griggstown, New Jersey. (pages 49-54). The full issue can be found in the digital collection of the Michigan State University library. Evaluation: At the time of Honeyman’s birth, there was no sometime before 1746 and in Armagh and to have sailed record of a family of that name embarked on a small expedi- with Wolfe to Canada in 1758.14 living in the Armagh area, tion against Quebec that year. making the circumstances of Honeyman the future spy was There is no evidence, how- his birth difficult to certify. indubitably a Protestant, and ever, that he was reluctant to Alternatively, he may have almost definitely a Presbyte- join the army and, if nothing been born in Fife, Scotland, rian. Despite the uncertainty of else, the faith Wolfe reposed in though one genealogist has his birthplace, he appears to speculated that he was the son have taken the king’s shilling him indicates that he per- of a Captain John Honeyman, formed his duties with alacrity who had arrived in New York and enthusiasm. If his father

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 29 History or Family Fable?

The two men decided that Honeyman “was to act the part of a spy for the American cause.” headquarters in White Plains, New York, between 1 and 10 November and thence Peek- skill between 11 and 13 Novem- were Captain Honeyman, the arranged a private meeting ber, ruling out Honeyman’s colors would have been a natu- with the general at Fort Lee, recruitment in that period; ral avenue for the young man. New Jersey. He had gained upriver from , White The unsubstantiated belief that access by brandishing a lauda- Plains and Peekskill were quite Honeyman was suborned into tory letter of introduction from a trek from Griggstown. How- donning a uniform is almost Wolfe and declaiming his ever, Washington was at Fort certainly a later embellishment attachment to the cause of inde- Lee, only 50 miles away) from intended to demonstrate that pendence. The meeting was a 14 November to the 17th or this Scotch-Irish “outsider” was necessarily hurried one, but (in 18th. 18 The chronology there- secretly disaffected from his the words of the chief 19th cen- fore fits the story. However, it English overlords decades tury source) the two men might fit only because Honey- before the Revolution—and decided that Honeyman “was to man’s later popularizers thus explaining his future act the part of a spy for the checked the dates and applied actions on Washington's behalf. American cause” while playing them to the tale for authentic- In truth, if Honeyman were “the part of a Tory and quietly ity’s sake. alienated from the Crown dur- talk[ing] in favor of the British ing 1775–76, it would most side of the question.”17 likely be owed to his being a Also plausible, perhaps sur- prisingly, is that such a meet- Presbyterian (so antagonistic In other words, Honeyman ing—between a walk-in were his co-religionists toward was to present himself as a volunteer and the commander established authority that King Loyalist while the Americans of an army—would take place. George III once joked that the were nearby, but once Washing- Revolution was nothing but a ton had departed and the Brit- The 18th century world was a “Presbyterian War.”) 15 ish occupied the rump of New smaller and more intimate one Jersey, his mission was to col- than our own. Washington As for his wife and young fam- laborate with the enemy, sell- might well have set aside a few ily, the traditional story tends ing the army cattle and horses minutes for one of Wolfe’s vet- to stand up to scrutiny. Mary and supplying its soldiers with erans and suggested that he Henry was from Coleraine, beef and mutton. He was to glean what information he another Protestant part of Ire- operate behind enemy lines, could and transmit it to him. land, and records indicate that travel alongside the army, and she was eight years his junior. leave his wife and children at There is no record, however, of Honeyman also had seven chil- home. As a camp follower, Hon- this meeting and not once is dren, of whom at least three eyman would be in an excellent John Honeyman mentioned in were born before the family position to observe British Washington’s voluminous corre- moved to Griggstown (Jane— movements, dispositions, fortifi- spondence and papers. Even so, the oldest—Margaret, and cations, and logistics, plus gain it could be argued that so infor- John.) 16 advance knowledge of the mal was the gathering that no enemy’s designs. record was kept, though, con- Claim: In early November sidering Honeyman’s alleged 1776, as Washington’s battered Evaluation: Washington’s centrality to Washington’s sur- forces were retreating from movements affirm that such a prise victory, his total omis- New York and New Jersey into meeting could have taken place. sion, especially after the Pennsylvania, Honeyman The general was based at his triumph, is suspicious.

30 Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 History or Family Fable?

More troublesome is the question of historicity: Does Honey- More troublesome is the ques- man’s plan…accord with what we know of Washington’s rudi- tion of historicity: Does Honey- mentary intelligence apparatus? man’s plan to remain permanently behind enemy lines in plain clothes as an justly be counted as the real untried civilian like Honeyman agent-in-place accord with what founding father of American two years before, in November we know of Washington’s rudi- intelligence-gathering. He 1776, looks distinctly weak. mentary intelligence apparatus would last only a few months in This impression is confirmed by at this time? Is this detail an the job, but it was he who con- Washington’s correspondence of anachronism that unwittingly ceived the idea of embedding that month. At the time, Wash- demonstrates its own falsity? agents among the British. ington was more concerned Major John Clark was among about the Continental Army’s In these years, Washington the first of these remarkable lack of soldiers, food, and even lacked any kind of “secret ser- individuals. He spent some nine shoes, stemming desertion, and vice,” let alone the experienced months living undercover and keeping his militia under arms “case officers” needed to run unsuspected on Long Island, all than he was with aggressively networks of operatives in hos- the time making precise obser- acquiring intelligence of Brit- tile territory. Hitherto, uni- vations of British troop ish movements in New Jersey formed soldiers (often junior strength. It is important to for a battle he was in no state officers) had probed the enemy realize, however, that Clark’s to wage. Upon meeting Honey- lines and fortifications and success was almost certainly man, a veteran of the British reported back to their units’ unique. Sackett’s few other army, Washington would have agents tended to last about a commanders, who sometimes been more likely to recruit him week, having either switched relayed pertinent information as a sergeant than as a spy. to Washington. Occasionally, sides or suffered exposure. these agents would don civilian garb and attempt to get behind Clark’s achievement was actu- Claim: Apparently, once Hon- the British lines—but with the ally a strike against adopting eyman had acquired sufficient intention of returning home the agents-in-place policy. As intelligence from the British, he within a day or two. A few success was so unlikely, Wash- was to “venture, as if by acci- months previously, Nathan ington would not be convinced dent, and while avowedly look- Hale had been one of the lat- that replacing reconnaissance, ing for cattle, go beyond the ter, and his doom serves as a the traditional form of spying, enemy lines as to be captured reminder of just how risky such was worthwhile until as late as by the Americans, but not with- missions were. In sum, there September 1778. In that month, out a desperate effort to avoid were no long-term agents, mas- he cautiously authorized one of it,” in the words of the 19th cen- querading as sympathizers, Sackett’s successors to “endeav- tury account of his espionage with realistic cover stories, our to get some intelligent per- work. 20 By this stratagem, Hon- operating in British-held terri- son into the City [of New York] eyman would be able to main- tory. It was a concept whose and others of his own choice to tain his cover as a Tory time had not yet come. be messengers between you and sympathizer when word of his him, for the purpose of convey- arrest reached the British. To It would come soon—but only ing such information as he shall add verity, Washington was after Washington’s appoint- be able to obtain and give.” 19 supposed to offer a reward for ment of Nathaniel Sackett as his arrest, on condition that de facto chief of intelligence in In this light, the claim that Honeyman was captured alive February 1777. Sackett, a Washington was discussing pre- and brought directly to his wholly forgotten figure, should cisely such matters with an headquarters.

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 31 History or Family Fable?

The story of Honeyman’s escape from prison is plainly ridiculous, and the entire set-up for his capture inordinately complex. Tory. He knew the penalty for collaboration.

Once Honeyman was in Wash- So it was that late in Decem- ing seemed amiss, but Honey- ington’s camp, the general ber 1776, having ascertained man had made good his escape. would have been most inter- the British deployments around The fire, according to this ested in quizzing him about the Trenton and “aware that the account, had been set on Wash- British positions and possible discipline [there] was very lax, ington’s orders to permit the preparations for an assault. and knowing too that the holi- spy to flee, and Washington After all, at the time Washing- days were approaching, when a himself feigned extreme anger ton had been warning his still greater indulgence would that the “traitor” had escaped senior commanders to remain probably be permitted,” Honey- custody.22 vigilant against a surprise man resolved to recross the line attack. More proactively, he and pass his intelligence to Evaluation: The story of asked them on 14 December to Washington. 21 Keeping to the Honeyman’s escape from prison “cast about to find out some plan that he and Washington is plainly ridiculous, and the person who can be engaged to had cooked up, Honeyman entire set-up for his capture cross the River as a spy, that walked to the Delaware and inordinately complex. There is we may, if possible, obtain some pretended to be in search of his no record of any of it happen- knowledge of the enemy’s situa- lost cattle. After some time, he ing. Still, a lack of documenta- tion, movements, and inten- espied two American scouts and tion in these situations is not tion; particular enquiry to be a prolonged pursuit ensued. uncommon and, in fact, in late made by the person sent if any Honeyman was captured only 1776 and throughout 1777— preparations are making to when he slipped on the ice as menacingly dubbed the “Year of cross the River; whether any he tried to jump a fence. Even the Hangman” for the resem- boats are building, and where; then, he violently resisted cap- blance of its three sevens to gal- whether any are coming across ture, but with two pistols lows—hundreds of suspected land from Brunswick; whether pointed at his head he surren- Tories were rounded up (and any great collection of horses dered. usually hanged following a are made, and for what courts-martial). 23 purpose.”24 Dragged directly to Washing- ton’s tent, Honeyman contin- It is therefore more than pos- Honeyman advocates have ued his masquerade by sible that Honeyman fell into suggested that the spy Wash- theatrically trembling and cast- the hands of American scouts. ington intended to “cross the ing his eyes downward in But why? It could be that he River” was Honeyman, but this shame. Washington instructed looked willing to alert a British is to misinterpret the letter. 25 It his aides and guards to leave patrol that enemy troops were was not sent to one commander and held a private debriefing in the area, or that he might asking him to find a spy (and, with Honeyman before order- even have been probing the in any case, if Washington and ing the spy to be locked in the American pickets for informa- Honeyman were so chummy, prison until morning, when he tion to sell to the British. His why didn’t the general ask for would be hanged following a determined struggle to avoid Honeyman by name?), but to at court-martial. By a remarkable capture might have been least four field officers request- coincidence, a fire erupted in prompted not by a desire to ing that they “cast about” the camp that night and Honey- keep intact his cover as a well- among their units for someone man’s guards left to help put it known Tory but by the fact that suitable with military experi- out. When they returned, noth- he actually was a well-known ence. This is exactly what he

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Washington, in short, did not have any agent readily to hand, let had done earlier that summer alone the civilian Honeyman. when Nathan Hale volunteered for service. Washington, in short, did not have any agent readily to hand, let alone the probably acting the part of a general’s “protection.” Indeed, civilian Honeyman. Moreover, spy, shall be and hereby are since the letter was evidently Washington assumes that the protected from all harm and written some time before, it spy is to cross the river from the annoyance from every quar- only lends weight to the suspi- ter, until further orders. But American side, in Pennsylva- cion that Honeyman had long this furnishes no protection to been known as a pro-British nia, and sneak through the Honeyman himself. British lines to elicit intelli- activist. gence and come back. Honey- Geo. Washington man, however—as the It has been traditionally established story specifically Com.-in-Chief assumed that the letter’s mag- states—was already based on nanimity toward Mrs. Honey- the British side, in New Jersey. Stunned by this revelation, man and her children verifies the crowd grew silent and dis- the Honeyman-as-spy story. Claim: News of Honeyman’s persed. His family was hence- But the seeming contradiction escape enraged his family’s forth left alone. between its generosity toward Patriot neighbors in the family and the exclusion of Griggstown. “It was well known Evaluation: This famous Honeyman from protection was there that he had gone over to “letter” of Washington is the not uncommon either in the day the English army, and he had most bizarre and sensational or for George Washington. already received the title of twist in the Honeyman tale, but Benedict Arnold’s treachery ‘Tory John Honeyman,’ but there is not a whit of substanti- was, for instance, of the dark- now, ‘British spy, traitor and ation for it. No such letter has est dye, and yet Washington cutthroat,’ and various other turned up in the Washington allowed his wife and children to disagreeable epithets, were Papers at the Library of Con- join the disgraced general in heard on every side,” declares gress, even though the general New York, even as he set in the primary source account. 26 enjoyed a most efficient secre- motion secret plans to kidnap An indignant, howling mob sur- tarial staff that retained copies Arnold and bring him back for rounded his house at midnight, of all correspondence leaving execution. terrifying his wife and chil- his headquarters and dutifully dren. Mary eventually invited a filed that arriving. Though Likewise, Washington took a former family friend (now the apparently a treasured Honey- surprisingly benign view of crowd’s ringleader) to read out man heirloom, it has since dis- James Rivington, America’s a piece of parchment she had appeared. first yellow newspaperman and, hitherto kept safely hidden. as proprietor of the New York– Upon it was printed: If Washington did write such based Royal Gazette, a sworn a letter, it could only serve as enemy of his during the war. To the good people of New proof of Honeyman’s service if Rivington’s publishing house Jersey, and all others whom it one understands the words had been the “very citadel and may concern, “acting the part of a spy” to pest-house of American Tory- It is hereby ordered that the mean in the service of Washing- ism,” and his rag packed with wife and children of John ton, an interpretation only pos- the grossest and most incredi- Honeyman, of Griggstown, sible if one ignores the letter’s bly libelous accusations against the notorious Tory, now pointed exclusion of the “notori- Washington. 27 And yet, once within the British lines, and ous Tory” Honeyman from the the British evacuated the city

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 33 History or Family Fable?

A rather more probable explanation of Honeyman’s disappear- ance is that he feared falling again into the hands of the revolu- masterly skill and executed tionaries. thanks to Honeyman’s prede- termined mission to mislead Rall. in 1783, Washington directed to his home the greatest hero of that Rivington and his prop- the hour. The same neighbors Regarding Honeyman’s sud- erty be protected from mob vio- who had once surrounded his den disappearance after deceiv- lence. Though there are some humble dwelling and sought his ing Rall, a rather more who say that Washington’s life, again not only surrounded probable explanation is that he, decision was prompted by Riv- it, but pressed vigorously for a known collaborator, feared ington’s alleged spying on his admittance, not to harm, but to falling again into the hands of behalf later in the war, a more thank and bless and honor him, the revolutionaries. Honey- or equally likely explanation and to congratulate and man, in fact, did not completely was the general’s dislike of applaud his long suffering but vanish but flitted in and out of social disorder and his firm heroic wife.” 29 sight in for the rest of the war. attachment to the principle of According to court records, for press freedom.28 Evaluation: There is not a instance, on 10 July 1777— shred of proof to this tale. It is more than six months after his Claim: After his escape, Hon- hardly likely that an officer as “disappearance”—he was the eyman surrendered to the Brit- shrewd and as experienced as subject of an official proceeding ish and entered the enemy Rall would have fallen for such to seize his property “as a disaf- camp. Astounding guards with an obvious ruse, and the entire fected man to the state” of New tales of his derring-do, he structure of the tale is based on Jersey. 30 In early December of demanded to be taken to Colo- the assumption that Washing- that year, another record shows nel Rall immediately. The Hes- ton sent Honeyman in to lull that he was actually caught, sian commander was dutifully the opposition several weeks jailed, and charged with high amazed and asked him ques- before by posing as a Tory, treason by the state’s Council of tion after question about the Washington’s ultimate inten- Safety. 31 Honeyman was again whereabouts and strength of tion always being to mount an lucky: the “Year of the Hang- the Americans. Honeyman attack. Hence the elaborate man” fervor for prosecuting sus- accordingly spun a tale about scheme to allow him to “escape” pected Loyalists had already Washington’s army being too back across the enemy line. But subsided and two weeks later demoralized and broken to had he? he was temporarily released mount an attack, upon which after pledging a bond of £300.32 Rall exclaimed that “no danger Washington in fact seized an was to be apprehended from unexpected and risky opportu- Then, on 9 June 1778, he was that quarter for some time to nity to surprise Rall. The raid indicted for giving aid and suc- come.” It was a fatal error. luckily paid off in spades. He cor to the enemy between despatched three columns 5 October 1776 (about two Honeyman, knowing his ruse across the Delaware to arrive months before he allegedly per- could not last long once Wash- simultaneously at dawn. In the formed his patriotic service) ington crossed the Delaware event, just one made it success- and June 1777. 33 He pleaded and understanding that “there fully and it was by the greatest not guilty, and no further was little if any opportunity for of good fortune that Hessian action was taken, but in March the spy to perform his part of patrols did not discover the 1779 he was threatened with the great drama any further,” invasion sooner. Washington’s having his house and property then vanished until the end of was a makeshift scheme, not a sold as a result of the the war. In 1783 he “returned strategy plotted with grand- indictment. 34 The sale, like the

34 Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 History or Family Fable?

The Honeyman story was first made public in the aftermath of the trial, never took place, leading Civil War. Honeyman himself had died on 18 August 1822. his supporters to assert that “highly placed authorities were able to prevent actual trial, a merly belonging to accused and memorable detail. At the trial which would have endan- Tories.) 36 time, Van Dyke’s revelations gered his usefulness” as an made a significant stir and American double.35 As for Honeyman’s “trium- were given additional publicity phal” return, sometime after by their prominence in Lord Cornwallis’s 1781 surren- Stryker’s popular Battles of Perhaps, but a less conspira- der at Yorktown, passions had Trenton and Princeton. torial interpretation might be cooled, and he would have gone that, given the administrative home and reconciled himself to The timing of Van Dyke’s Our chaos of those years, the con- the reality of Washington’s vic- Home memoir is key. The newly stantly shifting allegiances of tory, as did many thousands of reunited nation was preparing the population, the careless- displaced Loyalists and former ness with which law clerks kept Tory militiamen. for the centenary celebrations records, the Council’s habitual of the Declaration of Indepen- concessions to expediency, the So concludes the tale of John dence. Having but recently lack of hard evidence against Honeyman. How and when did emerged from the bloodiest of such a relatively minor collabo- this story originate? Therein civil wars, Americans were rator as Honeyman, and the lies the solution to the mystery. casting their minds back to diminishing enthusiasm of the those worthy days when citi- revolutionary authorities to zens from north and south ral- pursue low-level instances of The Story’s Genesis lied together to fight a common “disaffection,” Honeyman was enemy. The Honeyman story was first slapped on the wrist and made public in the aftermath of warned to keep out of trouble. the Civil War. (Honeyman him- For Van Dyke and his editor, self had died on 18 August Honeyman could be upheld as a This type of response was by 1822, aged 93.) In 1873, a new, gleamingly patriotic exemplar no means unique. By 1778–79, and unfortunately short-lived, to former Unionists and Con- New Jersey’s punishment sys- monthly magazine named Our federates alike. The author was tem had become little more Home (edited, revealingly, by also an old man, and would die than pro forma as the British one A. Van Doren Honeyman, just five years later. He may threat receded. Furthermore, later the author of the Honey- well have taken what could property confiscations for loy- man family history) published a have been the last opportunity alty to the Crown were rarely long article by Judge John Van to seal his family’s honorable executed after 1777, as Patri- Dyke (1807–78), the heroic place in the nation’s history. ots discovered that such cases Honeyman’s grandson, a three- Not long after Van Dyke’s were difficult to prove and, just time mayor of New Brunswick, death, in fact, organizations as pertinently, they realized two-time congressman, and such as the Sons of the Ameri- that personal quarrels, official one-time justice of the Supreme can Revolution (1889) and the graft, and greed were leading Court of New Jersey, lately Daughters of the American all too often to false accusa- retired to Wabasha, Minne- Revolution (1890) would spring tions. (The head of the New Jer- sota, where he became a state up to celebrate the unity and sey confiscations department, senator. 37 “An Unwritten purpose of the Founding for instance, ended up in the Account of a Spy of Washing- Fathers, and Honeyman was enviable position of “owning” ton” first fleshed out the Honey- exalted as representing their several lovely properties for- man legend in all its colorful ideals.

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 35 History or Family Fable?

Van Dyke swabbed a thick layer of typically Victorian sentimen- tality and romanticism over the Honeyman story. exploits. As Jane died in 1836, aged 70, Van Dyke must have elicited the details from her at Van Dyke swabbed a thick rior—with the achievements least some 40 years before he layer of typically Victorian sen- and adventures to match. published them in Our Home— timentality and romanticism plenty of time, then, for him to over the Honeyman story. In have mixed in lashings of The Secret Revealed terms of intelligence writing, make-believe, spoonfuls of the post-1865 era is remark- Judge Van Dyke most likely truth, and dollops of myth to able for its fanciful descrip- colorized the Honeyman story, Aunt Jane’s original tale, itself tions of espionage practice, its as we’ve seen, but he did not stitched together from her ado- emphasis on beautiful belles invent it. In a letter dated lescent memories of events that using their feminine wiles to 6 January 1874, the judge had occurred six decades previ- smuggle messages to their revealed that he had originally ously. beaus in camps opposite, and heard the story from the “one its depiction (accompanied by person who was an eye and ear Importantly, Jane was the imaginative dialogue and enter- witness to all the occurrences only child of Honeyman’s never tainingly cod accents) of hardy, described at Griggstown”: his to have married. According to a lantern-jawed heroes valiantly Aunt Jane, Honeyman’s eldest contemporary description, “she crossing the Mason-Dixon line daughter, who had been about was a tall, stately woman, large and masquerading as the 10 or 11 in the winter of in frame and badly club-footed enemy. Needless to say, there is 1776/77. in both feet. She was a dress- little attempt in the spy mem- maker, but had grace of man- oirs of the time to relate intelli- Jane had been present when ners and intelligence beyond gence input to actual the Patriot mob surrounded the her other sisters.” Would it be operational output, yet some- house after Honeyman’s escape any wonder if clever, imagina- how every agent succeeded in and “she had often heard the tive Jane—doomed to long spin- saving the Union (or Confeder- term ‘Tory’ applied to her sterhood by her appearance, 38 acy) in the nick of time. As father. She knew he was and fated to look after her aged Van Dyke’s article appeared accused of trading, in some and ailing father for decade soon after the initial flood of way, with the British; that he after decade—had embroidered Civil War spy memoirs, it was away from home most of a heroic tale to explain what would perhaps not be outland- the time; and she knew that had really happened? ish to suspect him of being their neighbors were greatly 39 influenced by the genre. excited and angry about it; but One question still remains. she knew also that her mother How had Jane Honeyman come In the hands of John Van had the protection of Washing- to invent a tale of a man Dyke, then, John Honeyman— ton,” wrote Van Dyke. “She had involved in valiant deeds of spy- hitherto a man of modest often seen, and read, and heard ing for Washington while sto- accomplishments and abili- read, Washington’s order of pro- ically suffering the abuse of his ties—became the quintessen- tection, and knew it by heart, neighbors, family, and ex- tial American hero. Far from and repeated it over to me, in friends? being the questionable charac- substance, I think, in nearly the ter and man of uncertain loyal- exact words in which it is found The answer may lie in the ties who emerges from history’s in the written article.” dates. John Honeyman died in dusty documents, Honeyman the summer of 1822. One year was in fact a glorious lion heart Aunt Jane, therefore, is the before, the up-and-coming nov- and Washington’s secret war- sole source for Honeyman’s elist James Fenimore Cooper

36 Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 History or Family Fable?

Cooper’s historical romance, The Spy, rescued the secret agent (1789–1851), future author of from his squalid 18th century reputation as a paid trafficker of in- The Last of the Mohicans and formation and painted him as a noble figure. The Deerslayer, had published what is today counted as the first US espionage novel, The cannot be raised in years—per- prisoners but never returned. Spy: A Tale of the Neutral haps never.” 40 Fearing the worst, they search Ground. for his corpse. Then, Washington, impressed Cooper’s historical romance, by this son of toil, “stood for a “He was lying on his which included George Wash- few moments in the attitude of back…his eyes were closed, as ington in a cameo role, rescued intense thought” before writing if in slumber; his lips, sunken the secret agent from his “a few lines on a piece of paper” with years, were slightly moved squalid 18th century reputa- and handing it to Birch. “It from their natural position, but tion as a paid trafficker of infor- must be dreadful to a mind like it seemed more like a smile mation and painted him as a yours to descend into the grave, than a convulsion which had noble figure akin to a soldier, branded as a foe to liberty; but caused the change.” Birch’s albeit one forced to work in you already know the lives that “hands were pressed upon his shadows, without the benefit of would be sacrificed, should your breast, and one of them con- public glory and medals. real character be revealed,” the tained a substance that glit- great man cautions as Birch tered like silver.” It was a tin The hero of The Spy is Har- takes the letter. “It is impossi- box, “through which the fatal vey Birch, an honest peddler ble to do you justice now, but I lead had gone; and the dying who refuses to accept money for fearlessly entrust you with this moments of the old man must his undercover work for the certificate; should we never have passed in drawing it from American side during the Revo- meet again, it may be service- his bosom.” Opening it, the lution. Owing to a series of able to your children.”41 officers found a message from melodramatically crossed wires, many years before: Birch finds himself accused of Cooper shifts the action to treachery and is pursued by the War of 1812 in the final Circumstances of political British and Americans both. chapter, and we find Birch, importance, which involve the Only Washington knows the who has lain low in the ensu- lives and fortunes of many, have hitherto kept secret what truth of the matter but is ing decades owing to his seem- this paper now reveals. Har- obliged to remain silent to ingly opprobrious conduct, vey Birch has for years been a maintain Birch’s cover. again struggling for the cause faithful and unrequited ser- of liberty, again against the vant of his country. Though At the end of the war, Wash- British. Two young American man may not, may God ington confides to the faithful officers catch sight of him, reward for his conduct! Birch during a secret meeting wondering who this odd, old, that “there are many motives solitary, ragged figure is. They —GEO. WASHINGTON 42 which might govern me, that to engage him in conversation, you are unknown. Our situa- and he claims that he knows After this bombshell, Cooper tions are different; I am known one of their mothers, but the resoundingly concludes that the as the leader of armies—but sound of an approaching fire spy “died as he had lived, you must descend into the fight delays further talk and devoted to his country, and a grave with the reputation of a they separate until the next martyr to her liberties.” foe to your native land. Remem- day. Following the battle, they ber that the veil which con- discover that Birch mounted a The Spy was an enormous hit, ceals your true character brave solo assault to capture and it wouldn't be outlandish to

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 37 History or Family Fable?

It is high time to bury the John Honeyman myth: a spy he never was.

suppose that Aunt Jane read it himself, strangely enough, who sometime after her father died. is innocent of telling tall tales. Could she, in order to conse- For more than half a century, crate her father’s silent martyr- he remained resolutely silent dom and hush those neighbors about his wartime behavior (as still gossiping about his war- well he might, given his not time past, have merely plagia- rized Cooper’s basic plot and altogether sterling record.) Van final twist? Dyke, who “was with him very often during the last fifteen Yet the Honeyman story’s years of his life, and saw his myriad anachronisms and sus- eyes closed in death,” heard piciously detailed narrative sig- nothing of his grandfather’s nal Judge Van Dyke’s past in all that time. His life handiwork. For patriotic and was a blank slate upon which social reasons, it was he who anything could be written. And not only colorized the tale, but so when Aunt Jane handed her broadened its focus, thrust, and nephew the ball, he ran with it. intent far beyond what Aunt Jane had ever envisaged. Between them, Jane and the That was more than a cen- judge endowed a most ordinary tury and a quarter ago, and it is man with an extraordinary— high time to bury the John and almost wholly fake—biog- Honeyman myth: a spy he raphy. It was John Honeyman never was.

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Endnotes

1. J. Van Dyke, “An unwritten account of a spy for Washington,” reprinted in New Jersey History, LXXXV (1967), Nos. 3 and 4. 2. W.S. Stryker, The Battles of Trenton and Princeton (Boston: Hough- ton Mifflin, 1898), 87. 3. G.O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution (New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 4 vols., 1912–1920 new edn.), III, 94. 4. See R. Hughes, George Washington (New York: William Morrow & Co., 3 vols., 1926–1930), 568–70. 5. A.H. Bill, The Campaign of Princeton (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1948), 26.

38 Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 History or Family Fable?

Endnotes (Cont.)

6. The article, which appeared in that year’s August issue, is available online at http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/maga- zine/ah/1957/5/1957_5_58.shtml. 7. J. Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors and Heroes: Espionage in the American Revolution (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998 edn., orig. pub. 1959), 167–70. 8. The sparse details available for this program can be found at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417034/. 9. R.M. Ketchum, The Winter Soldiers (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1973), 288–89. 10. T. Fleming, “George Washington, Spymaster,” American Heritage, Febru- ary/March 2000. 11. D.H. Fischer, Washington’s Crossing (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), Appendix X, “Doubtful Documents,” 423. 12. G.J.A. O’Toole, Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espio- nage, and Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1991), 25. 13. P.K. Rose (a pseudonym), The Founding Fathers of American Intelligence, available at https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelli- gence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/the-founding-fathers-of-ameri- can-intelligence/art-1.html. 14. A. Van Doren Honeyman, The Honeyman Family (Honeyman, Honyman, Hunneman, etc.) in Scotland and America, 1548–1908 (Plainfield, NJ: Honey- man’s Publishing House, 1909), 94. The story that Honeyman aided the stricken Wolfe to the rear might be true. Francis Parkman, the 19th century American historian and author of Montcalm and Wolfe, noted that after the general was hit for the third time “he staggered and sat on the ground. Lieu- tenant Brown, of the grenadiers, one Henderson, a volunteer in the same com- pany, and a private soldier, aided by an officer of artillery” carried him out of danger. The anonymous “private soldier” might have been Honeyman, though there are several other claimants for the honor. See F. Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe (, UK: Macmillan & Co., 2 vols., 1885), II, 296. Regarding Honeyman’s religion, in addition to the other evidence we possess, we know he is buried in Lamington Presbyterian Church Cemetery, Somerset County, New Jersey. 15. On the role of Presbyterianism in the Revolution, see A. Rose, Washing- ton’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring (New York: Bantam Dell, 2006), 79–81. 16. Some family records are missing, but Van Doren Honeyman, 117–18, pieces together what there is. 17. Van Dyke, 221. 18. This chronology is based on the dated series of letters Washington wrote at the time, all of which are printed in P. Chase et al (eds.), The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 16 vols. so far, 1985–continuing), VII.

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 39 History or Family Fable?

Endnotes (cont.)

19. Washington letter to Charles Scott, 25 September 1778 in the George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20. Van Dyke, 221. 21. Ibid., 221–22. 22. Bakeless, Turncoats, Traitors, and Heroes, 169 and Van Dyke, 223. 23. See Rose, Washington’s Spies, Chap. 2. Later, Washington expressed alarm at the prevalence of these courts-martial, saying that he was “not fully satisfied of the legality of trying an inhabitant of any State by military law, when the Civil Authority of that State has made provision for the punishment of persons taking Arms with the Enemy.” See Washington letter to , 15 April 1778, Washington Papers. 24. Washington letter to Lord Stirling, Mercer, Stephen, and de Roche Fer- moy, 14 December 1776, Washington Papers. 25. Stryker, 88, implies thus. 26. Van Dyke, 223. 27. M.C. Tyler, The Literary History of the American Revolution, 1763–1783 (New York: G.P Putnam’s Sons, 2 vols., 1897), II, 154. 28. An interesting analysis of the Rivington affair is J.L. Lawson, “The ‘Remarkable Mystery’ of James Rivington, ‘spy,’” Journalism Quarterly XXXV (1958), No. 3: 317–23, 394. 29. Van Dyke, 223–24. 30. Van Doren Honeyman, 113. 31. Council of Safety Meeting, 5 December 1777, printed in Minutes of the Council of Safety of the State of New Jersey (Jersey City, NJ: John H. Lyon, 1872), 169. 32. Council of Safety Meeting, 20 December 1777, printed in Minutes of the Council of Safety, 176. 33. A. O’Shea and S.A. Pleasants, “The Case of John Honeyman: Mute Evi- dence,” Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society LXXXIV (1966), No. 3: 176; see also Van Doren Honeyman, 112, for the full text of the document. 34. The New-Jersey Gazette, 10 March 1779: 4. 35. O’Shea and Pleasants, 177. See also Van Doren Honeyman, 114–15. 36. This subject is authoritatively dealt with in R.C. Haskett, “Prosecuting the Revolution,” American Historical Review LIX (1954), No. 3: 578–87. 37. The author is indebted for these biographical details to Michael Christian, librarian of the Sons of the American Revolution. 38. E. Fishel’s article, “Myths That Never Die,” International Journal of Intel- ligence and Counterintelligence II (1988), No. 1: 27–58, is the best source for this aspect of espionage.

40 Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 History or Family Fable?

Endnotes (cont.)

39. For example, R.B. Marcy, “Detective Pinkerton,” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine XLVII (1873), 281: 720–27; L.C. Baker, History of the United States Secret Service (Philadelphia: L.C. Baker, 1867); R. O’Neal Greenhow, My Imprisonment and the First Year of Abolition Rule at Washington (London, UK: R. Bentley, 1863); B. Boyd, Belle Boyd in Camp and Prison, Written by Herself (New York: Blelock, 1865). 40. J.F. Cooper, The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground (Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company; 1911 edn.), 405. 41. Cooper, 406. 42. Cooper, 409–15. ❖ ❖ ❖

Studies in Intelligence Vol. 52, No. 2 41